Vermicelli’s Venus

Aphrodite. Venus. Everyone’s favorite mythical goddess of love, sex, and all things sensual. Inspiration for innumerable classical works of art, including Botticelli’s masterpiece, The Birth of Venus—easily, one of the top three most commercially exploited images of the Italian Renaissance (the other two being Michelangelo’s David and da Vinci’s Mona Lisa).

Botticelli should have named his famous painting The Debut of Venus, or something like that, because it really depicts the goddess’ post-birth arrival on the scene, after she surfed around the ocean “like sea lettuce” on her seashell, according to The Anacreontea.

Had Botticelli instead painted the commonly accepted version of her mythical birth, the image would likely not have ended up being silk-screened on tens of thousands of t-shirts and coffee mugs today. Why? Because, that scene involved the cutting off of the evil god Uranus’ genitals with a serrated knife by his son, who then tossed the severed twigs and berries into the sea, where they swirled around for a while until they turned into a lovely maiden (as they do), who sprang forth from the sea foam on the island of Cyprus. Ta-da! Aphrodite. But, that’s more like Goya subject matter, if you ask me. Botticelli was a little too genteel for such carnage.

Ruins of the ancient Sanctuary of Aphrodite in Kouklia, Cyprus.

In any event, the precise location our lady of the amputated junk is supposed to have risen from the sea, according to the ancient cult of Aphrodite, is a big rock on the southern coast of Cyprus, conveniently near where they built a massive temple in her honor around 1500 B.C. The mythical birth site inspires TripAdvisor contributors to reach into the profound, romantic depths of their souls, and wax poetic:

“there is a parking place and … [t]here were rocks but also some sand on the beach” — EdyT;

“nothing to see just a big rock” – jacyW from the UK;

“not very nice beach and horrible car park” – sleepycat from the UK;

“weird and ugly, lots of seaweed” – GezaS;

“it’s just a rock in the sea” – Droglis from Ireland.

This is where I was having breakfast.

I was laughing at these earthbound reviews over breakfast one morning while in Paphos, Cyprus, and the waiter asked me what was so funny. I showed him the reviews, and he grimaced, as though a foul smell had wafted past his nose. “These people don’t deserve the magic,” he said in his sunkissed Mediterranean accent. “When there is a rainbow, they probably complain about the rain.” And then he told me about the local legend, that if you find a stone on the beach in the shape of a heart, you put the stone in a hole or crevice on Aphrodite’s Rock, and the goddess will bring you love and passion within a year.

The site is easy enough to find, well marked, right off the coastal highway southeast of Paphos, and the car park, while nothing to write home about, was not horrible at all, contrary to what sleepycat from the UK might say. Access to the beach, however, was another story. I crossed the highway, and looked all the way up and down the road for an opening in the safety barrier that keeps people from careening off the bluff into the ocean. Not a break in the fence as far as the eye could see. The double-railed barrier was just high enough to be difficult to climb over, and just low enough that I wasn’t willing to try to wiggle under it. So, I opted for the trusty, grade school era, “dead man’s drop” method of clearing the obstacle, wherein you hoist yourself up on your hands, with the top of the bar at your hips, and lean over it until gravity tips you over and you feel yourself about to drop on your head on the other side, at which point you kind of flip your legs over and land on your feet.

Re-enactment of the Dead Man’s Drop maneuver.

Not having performed this maneuver since the fifth grade, however, and not being 11 years old and 85 pounds anymore, mine was somewhat less graceful, vastly more painful, and the dismount resulted in the sacrifice of a sandal, and a pulsating hematoma on my upper thigh meat that’s going to look like a stained glass window in a few days. But, I had successfully reached the other side. It was only when I reached the bottom of the treacherous path down to the beach that I noticed the nice, flat, paved pedestrian tunnel under the highway to the other side. That would definitely have been easier, both on my body and my pride. Note to self for next time.

This is where I clambered over the safety barricade.

I don’t know what all those curmudgeons on TripAdvisor were talking about. I thought this place was sigh inducing. Okay, the beach isn’t sandy, but the blue suede sea, checked by the rocks, enters the cove in voluptuous, rolling swells without breaking into waves, and just dissolves into the shore, never ceasing to be serene, gentle. Curved around the edge of the water, there is a narrow bed of some kind of reedy, gingery seaweed, just like the wavy, Titian-colored tresses of Botticelli’s Venus.

There it was. The birthplace of Aphrodite. The rock where she burst forth from a spray of sea foam. A place that countless devotees of the ancient cult of Aphrodite held holy, and where modern, lovelorn Cypriots come to pray for love. It does have a certain reverence-demanding quality to it.

I walked along the beach, up to the sandy part mentioned in EdyT’s TripAdvisor review. There in the sand, I saw where someone had placed a bunch of stones in the outline of a big heart. The waiter’s words instantly came back into my head: if you find a stone in the shape of a heart…. Was this what he was talking about? I couldn’t take any chances. So, I stripped off my clothes—silently confirming to myself that this was precisely why I wear my swimsuit under my clothes when I explore near any swimmable body of water—stashed them, my iPhone and my rental car key under a bush, and got to work.

See the stones in there?

That heart outline was composed of about 20 stones in all, and some of them were about the size of a softball, so I couldn’t take them all in one trip. I took as many as I could in my hands and the bra cups of my swimsuit, and I swam out to the rock. I had to find holes or cracks in the rock that would accommodate each stone without it falling out in the tide and sinking, which was complicated by the fact that there were hordes of crabs living in most of the waterline level holes. I paddled, circumnavigating that big rock, buoyed up by the ocean swells, grabbing on and climbing at times, apologizing to the various crabs and sea monkeys I disturbed in the process, until I found secure homes for each one of those stones. It took me about six trips, all told.

When I finished, I just floated on my back in the cove, and laughed at myself for being such a silly, romantic dork. But, I say, better a romantic dork, than someone who can only see “just a rock” and a “horrible car park.”

Invasion of the Russians.

Then, a big tour bus full of Russians showed up and invaded my peaceful scene, so, I rose from the sea like Venus, collected my things from under the bush, and took the nice, easy, non-contusion-inducing pedestrian tunnel back to the parking lot.

On my way back to town, I stopped to buy a bottle of water at a little roadside convenience store, and I noticed a framed photo of the Aphrodite’s Rock site behind the register. What caught my eye about it was that the central focus of the photo was not the big rock out in the sea, but another, bigger outcropping of rock that looked more like a separation from the cliff, that jutted out into the water, but wasn’t surrounded by the ocean. I got a vaguely sick feeling in my stomach.

“Excuse me,” I asked the cashier. “Which rock is actually the Aphrodite Rock?”

“This one,” she said, pointing to the central one on the photo that extended from the land.

“Not that one?” I said, pointing to the rock way out in the water, that I had just spent the last 90 minutes or so swimming out to and climbing on to plant little, stone love seeds inside of.

“No, it’s this one,” she said, tapping the photo to indicate the other rock that you can walk to without getting wet, or even taking your shoes off.

“Are you sure?” I gave her one last chance to show some doubt.

“Yes, it’s this one.” She was certain.

“Crap!” I exclaimed.

“What?” she inquired, a bit alarmed.

“Oh…nothing,” I sighed, and walked dejectedly away.

Story of my life. I go on a pilgrimage all the way to the church of the nativity of the goddess of love, and I end up mistakenly worshipping at an outbuilding. Disqualified on a technicality. But, then I had to laugh at myself again, when I remembered that the whole thing is made up anyway. The entire point of fixing a location for such a mythical notion is to give people—in times gone by, and now—a place that triggers for them an openness to the feelings represented by the goddess. When you look at it that way, it doesn’t really matter which rock I tucked those stones into. It’s really just all about deserving the magic.

8 thoughts on “Vermicelli’s Venus”

I’m sharing this one with my daughter, who believes Botticelli’s Venus is worthy of being one of her favorites.

I think it is worthwhile because it induced your report on your whereabouts. I had almost given up hope you would someday exit the Far East. Not that I don’t appreciate the territory, but my attention span sometimes is surpassed by that of a four-year old. Moreover, I’ve not been to Cyprus, so you are my ambassador and reporter.

My geography is a bit dated, like my atlas, but as I recall it, you’ve passed Greece and a chance to meet my once-upon-a-time brother-in-law, Richard White, who runs a rental car concession for the Isle of Samos. A good fellow who ran away to Greece despite being romanced by a sex therapist who settled in Polynesia. I think he savored a little relaxation instead.

You must have been having a grand time of it, because it’s been a long while with no reportage. Welcome back! I don’t mean to hurry you home. Just keep writing. I do enjoy your travelogues, and your pace of life seems idyllic.

I do apologize for neglecting you, Tim! I have, indeed, been having a grand time, and I have a lot of material from the last few months to report, but somehow, every time I sat down to write, I just wasn’t feeling the muse. So, in my effort to not add unnecessarily to the incessant noise of the Internet unless I actually have something clear to say, I decided to just leave it for a bit. But, I will circle back to it in time, and fill everyone in. It’s been a very interesting time.
I hit Cyprus on the way to Greece, where I am now–just arrived. Alas, I don’t think I’ll make it to Samos this time around, although, I do see a squillion reasons to return to this lovely land to explore further in the future. Perhaps I’ll go rent a car from your bro-in-law then. Will he give me a discount if I drop your name? 😉
Miss you! Say hey to anyone who may care to hear of me!

Brilliant! I’m definitely sharing, live this bit … “Story of my life. I go on a pilgrimage all the way to the church of the nativity of the goddess of love, and I end up mistakenly worshipping at an outbuilding. “

Great to hear from you I knew you hadn’t dropped off the earth cause I get periodic updates from HDM . His pet is under my feet as I write this…. as he is off to see his eldest today. Always interested in your travels and what all you find to do & see. Beautiful pictures! Glad you didn’t have to skip Greece all together.

I just came back from Cyprus. People told me If I would swim three times around the rock, I would gain love and eternal youth. So I swam, three times around the blackish rock that looks so different from the others. Your rock. After seeing a lot of other photos and souvenirs I actually doubted if it was the right one. And now your blog helped me with the answer! Thanks, but I’ll have to go back for my eternal youth I guess.